On Sun, 16 Jun 1996, Her Kunchanness wrote:

No, no... 'Akane wa totemo kawaii' is right. 'Akane no baka' is Shampoo
speak for 'Akane isn't a baka'... So you have to say 'Akane wa totemo
kawaii'!

Wait!!! WAIT! Dosn't NO mean of...
So Saying Akane no Baka would translate into Akane of idiot (Which in
better in english come out to be Akane is and Idiot)?

  You got it. ^.-

Therefore, since 'Akane is and idiot' doesn't make any sense, you say
'Akane wa totemo kawaii' which DOES make sense!

Okay, hold up. If "Akane no Baka" is incorrect grammar, then why is "Ranma no
Baka", Akane's favorite phrase, acceptible?

Actually, there are many uses of that syllable.  The book I'm studying from 
counts at least eight.  Some of them are...

- particle that shows possession (the "of" translation from above)
- to show the physical relation between two objects ("umi no sakana" - "fish in 
   the sea")
- first word in adverbial phrases of position ("Shokutaku no ue ni arimasu" -
   "It is on top of the dining table")
- means "It is a fact that..."when used as "no desu".  Tends to be more formal 
   and less direct than other phrases with similar meanings
- feminine interrogative used instead of "ka" at times.  Used mostly by women
   and children, though men can use it when addressing children.

Now here's the one that I think applies to this situation the best:

- means "fact that" or "person who"

Thing is, with this usage, it would seem that "desu/da" would be needed as well 
(i.e. "Ranma no baka da!").  OTOH, this type of phrase does seem to fall into 
the category of slang, so maybe we're all nitpicking a bit too much about 
this...

- Mike of No Particular Title or Handle

Peter L. Ward          falcon@best.com          Kyusaku on IRC #Anime!
Caretaker of the Urd Shrine (http://www.best.com/~falcon/urdhome.htm)

"If you see something this big, with eight legs, let me know so I can
kill it before it can develop language skills!" - Ambassador Londo